


Hallmark Greetings

by carolinecrane



Category: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-06
Updated: 2012-05-06
Packaged: 2017-11-04 22:42:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/399003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolinecrane/pseuds/carolinecrane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick needs to keep better track of his belongings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hallmark Greetings

He was halfway home when he remembered. 

Remembered and started frantically checking pockets, digging through his bag at the first stoplight he came to and when he didn't find it his heart dropped into his stomach. He made a very illegal U-turn and headed back to the lab, a string of curses flying out of him as he pulled into the parking lot and turned off the engine.

And he was going to kill Greg, because he would have to bring something like that to work. Which, granted, was because they hardly ever saw each other now that they were on different shifts, and he knew Greg was trying to be sweet or romantic or just really, really frustrating…yeah, so not helping.

He scowled and climbed out of the truck, scanning the ground on the way back into the lab. The problem was that he could have dropped it anywhere between the front door and the locker room, which meant that anyone could have picked it up by now and he couldn't even remember if his name was on it. Greg's was – that much he knew for sure – but he wasn't sure if the festive red envelope had been blank or even if Greg had printed his name at the top.

At the time he'd thought it was kind of cute – embarrassing and hokey, but cute – so he hadn't really paid attention to how incriminating it actually was. Not until he lost the damn thing, anyway, and by the time he reached the locker room with no sign of it his heart was racing and he was sure someone had already found it. Grissom, maybe – or worse, Ecklie, because he was always lurking around these days, and Nick had no idea what would happen if Ecklie found out about them.

He swallowed hard against the ball of lead in his throat and pushed open the locker room door, stopping short when he found Sara and Warrick standing in the center of the room. His first thought was that Warrick should be gone already, because their shift ended half an hour ago and Nick had only stuck around to see Greg. Warrick didn't have a reason to stay that Nick knew of, but here he was, standing close to Sara and peering over her shoulder at…oh God.

"…he may see you when you're sleeping, and know when you're awake," she read aloud, giggling in a totally un-Sara way, "and know if you've been bad or good…"

Nick was moving forward as she read, hoping to intercept her before she flipped the card open. Only there was no way he could reach her in time, and he was barely halfway across the room before she was reading again.

"…but only I know about that thing you do with your tongue. Merry Christmas. Love, Greg."

As soon as she finished she looked up, smile brightening at the sight of Nick and yeah, Greg had definitely put his name on the card. 

"Lose something?" she asked, holding it out and he was sure his whole face was the color of the envelope in her other hand.

"That's way more information than I needed," Warrick said, not quite looking at Nick and there was no way he was ever going to live this down. He knew it could have been worse, because at least it was just Warrick and Sara and not Ecklie or that day shift girl Ecklie had sent to spy on Grissom. But this wasn't exactly the way he'd planned for them to find out about him and Greg; he wasn't sure what would have been the best way, but this definitely wasn't it.

He took the card and envelope from Sara's hand, turning the envelope over first. There was no name on it, so he flipped the card open, scanning the inside. The 'Love, Greg' was printed in Greg's neat handwriting with a cheesy little heart drawn next to his name, but Greg hadn't written his name in the card. 

"Wait," he said, frowning and looking up at a still-amused Sara, "how'd you know this was mine?"

"Please," she said, rolling her eyes like it should be obvious, "you and Greg are the worst-kept secret in the lab."

She turned away from him to look at Warrick, smile shifting to something Nick hadn't seen on her in awhile, and…oh. He wondered idly if Greg knew about that, making a mental note to ask him later. Right before he killed him. 

"I better get going," Sara said. "I'll see you later?"

"Yeah," Warrick said, flashing the smile he usually reserved for coercing female witnesses, and Nick forgot about his own embarrassment long enough to wonder how long exactly _that_ had been going on.

"She's right, you know," Warrick said as Sara pushed open the locker room door and disappeared. "Everybody knows about you and Sanders."

"Everybody?"

"Everybody," Warrick answered, giving Nick that wry smile that let Nick know Warrick thought he was kind of clueless. "Some of us just like to think about it less than others. See you tomorrow, man."

Warrick was almost out of the locker room before Nick registered the rest of his words, but as soon as he did he started after him. "Wait a second. _Everybody?_ " he called, but Warrick was already gone. 

And yeah, he was definitely going to kill Greg as soon as he got his hands on him. At the very least, he wasn't getting the tongue thing for a good long time.


End file.
